Out of Pod Experience

...This nonsensical obsession with Ponys on the internet? I see this everywhere... Even here. What's so good about a kids' show?

And WHAT, on this green earth, is a 'Brony?'

Thanks, OOPE.

PS: Don't kill me, strange pony-folk...

You should kick him out if he lives his memes outside of the internet.
Maybe institutionalize him if he's over the age of 25.

Bro + Pony = Brony.

As for the reason for the obsession... some context/history needed first.
It's a show that was commissioned to be targeted at little girls in order for a toy company to get indirect advertising for their really old line of toys.
It was basically a revival of an old show which was complete and utter suckage even by little girl standards. DO NOT look for episodes from that older show, you will want brainbleach afterwards. Or, alternatively, maybe one day you're drunk or stoned off your ass and want to watch something crappy, in which case, go ahead.

So, the bar for expectations was set so low, you had to DIG to even see it.

Enter the current show creator(s), who could have just taken the cash and delivered utter inane tripe... but they didn't.
Instead they created a show that while sufficiently enjoyable to watch as a little kid, had sufficient "parental bonus material" snuck into it to put quite a few regular (bland) TV shows still on air today to shame. And not just any adult bonus stuff, but enough SMART bonus material too.
Example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWVscaTU3lA
Yes, they even made an episode handling FASHION in a PARTIALLY MUSICAL episode that an adult male nerd could watch and not barf, but quite the opposite... a cooler than average episode... about 20% cooler, in fact :P

So, to summarize : expecting an utterly abject money-grubbing failure and getting something quite decent instead = START OF PONY INSANITY !

Dude, watch the linked episode and tell me it actually sucks and you didn't laugh at all :P

and to say this show is for little girls is somewhat untrue as I watched the pilot (nightmare horse) and I can tell you that stuff isn't something for little girls to see without parents; too much horror themes and dark innuendo though it was an excellent pilot just not for the intended target group (ages 6-9).

At first I did not get it. Then i saw a few YouTube remixes that was quite well made, and I eventually got intrigued. So I decide to watch an episode, and then I decided to watch one more episode, and another. I realized that the show actually had depth to it. Sure, it is surgery sweet and brightly colored, but the characters have real depth compared to other modern shows.

And since the creator of the show is of a mindset that girls can do whatever they like and id equal to males, and should not be stereotyped as "typical little girls" the characters are quite interesting.

Eventually I stumbled over the 'brony' community, and quite frankly it is a breath of fresh air compared to other online communities (I gotta admit, eventually the sour eve community becomes so dull I hardly value spending too much time here). The effort many a brony put into making and remixing stuff from the movies is impressive, and the community is kind and generous as well.

I am not sure how many are fans on Dream Theater (I am), but this serves as a good example of effort:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEgveUuFYCo

Or more creative videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tjb14VoWjg

Freewill vs Fun

If you have clicked this and watched till the end their is no Escape.

I got him!

Akita grab the Rope, Sidus the TV and Chair and Surfin the Tape and Eyedrops.

End of the Line Sparky.

There is a word for that, and it's called "quality". That show is very well done.

Now I understand why there is such a pony craze...